google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday October 9, 2019 Craig Stowe

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Oct 9, 2019

Wednesday October 9, 2019 Craig Stowe

The Gimme Game by Craig Stowe, play-by-play by desper-otto.

You'll see lots of "LHF" (I counted 32) as you scroll through the writeup. No, it doesn't stand for Left-Handed Fingering, CED, nor Latent Heat Flux, Jayce. If you haven't already sussed it, y'all'll find out later.

Across:

1. Washington's Sea-__ Airport: TAC. Seattle-Tacoma. Could also be half a candy or a third of a game. LHF 1

4. Bubble bath spot: TUB. In the winter I like a good long soak in a hot tub, reading my latest Kindle novel. LHF 2

7. Model S and Model X electric cars: TESLAS. "Electric" is the operative word.

13. "Snowy" bird: OWL. Egret was too long. LHF 3

14. "Movin' __": "The Jeffersons" theme: ON UP. Musical Interlude #1

16. World Cup chant: OLE OLE. Tried USA USA first.

17. Chinese chairman: MAO. The Chairman LHF 4

The Chairman


18. Henry VIII's sixth wife Catherine: PARR. Portrait of Catherine Parr.

Portrait of Catherine Parr


19. Like an ideal situation: WIN WIN. OLE OLE over WIN WIN makes a nice sandwich.

20. How some get across town: BY CAB. Also what a Bostonian takes for an upset tummy.

22. "I'm __ a robot": phrase with captcha tests: NOT. If you've gone blue, you can ignore the Recaptcha for your comments. LHF 5

24. Percussion pair: HIHAT. One of these thingies


25. Sack opening?: KNAP. I had one with the Boy Scout logo on it. Wow, was that special!


27. Leg bone: FIBULA.

29. Holly's "Raising Arizona" role: EDWINA. Holly Hunter.

Holly Hunter

31. Summer in Quebec: ÉTÉ. Also in Paris, France, but not in Paris, Texas. LHF 6

32. "Orinoco Flow" singer: ENYA. Musical Interlude #2

35. Good scents: AROMAS. Are they always good? In my ute, driving down the section roads where the fields were freshly manured and the ditches were over-flowing with whey, we'd comment on the aroma of the "good ole country air."

36. "The Giving Tree" author Silverstein: SHEL. Multi-talented guy. He wrote poems, songs, cartoons and children's books. I first ran into him in the pages of Playboy, which I read solely for the articles.


38. __ pal: GAL. Tried PEN first. CSO to Tinbeni.

39. Fire truck wail: SIREN. I read "wail" as "wall" and drew a blank. LHF 7

40. Toronto-to-D.C. dir.: SSE.

41. Handy: UTILE. I'm not sure "useful" and "handy" mean the same thing.

43. Lodge member: ELK. LHF 8

44. Guthrie at Woodstock: ARLO. Woody's boy. I think he's singing about the keys to the city, don't you?

46. Walk-in health facility: CLINIC. LHF 9

47. City on the Rhône: LYON. No "S"

49. Word with drum or trumpet: EAR. One of these days I may have to look into an ear trumpet, but that's probably the wrong way to use it.

50. Distorts, as data: FUDGES. Was thinking SKEWS. My high school math teacher used to say, "Figures don't lie, but liars do figure."

51. Do over: REVAMP.

53. Royal Norwegian name: OLAF. Will it be F or V? Wait on the perps.

54. Let up: ABATE. LHF 10

56. __-mo replay: SLO. LHF 11

58. "The Jetsons" son: . ELROY


61. Chanted phrase: MANTRA.

63. Word on U.S. coins: UNUM. E Pluribus Unum
 -- out of many, one.


65. Luau instrument: UKE. LHF 12

66. Consume: INGEST. That's what they say about poison.

67. Personnel note: MEMO. LHF 13

68. "Roth" savings plan: IRA. I've got both types. You? I recently dipped into my Roth to buy a new car. The withdrawal doesn't count as income. LHF 14

69. Political pundit Myers: DEEDEE. She spent a couple of years as press secretary in the early years of the Clinton presidency.


70. __ Antonio: SAN. The River Walk LHF 15

The River Walk

71. Street covering: TAR. Our little town is in the process of repaving our streets. I don't know when our street was last paved, but it was more than 20 years ago. The patches have been patched, and some of the potholes are epic. The recent heavy truck traffic has made matters worse. I'll be happy when the paving is complete and the heavy trucks leave. I'm getting sick of the smell of asphalt in the morning. LHF 16

Down:

1. Grant's __: NYC landmark: TOMB. Eighteenth prez U.S. and his wife are buried together there.


3. 1971 Kubrick film, with "A": CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Stanley Kubrick didn't have a specific genre, but he sure made a lot of classic movies.

4. Big cheese: TOP BANANA

5. Article in El País: UNA. The "El" gives it away.

6. "Sick insult, dude!": BURN. I've never heard that. You?

7. With 2-Down, type of zone in which parking is restricted: TOW AWAY. LHF 17 Usually pricey to get your car back.


8. Nobelist Root: ELIHU Root. Former Secretary of State and Secretary of War back in the early 1900s. He showed me that USA USA was wrong as that futbal cheer.


9. Declining in old age: SENILE. Gettin' there.

10. Easy pickings, and a hint to the four other longest Down answers: LOW HANGING FRUIT. In addition to the four theme answers, Craig gave us lots of other LHF in this puzzle.

11. Et __: and others: ALIA. LHF 18

12. Dispatched: SENT. LHF 19

15. Clue character with a bow tie: PROFESSOR PLUM.


21. "Yu-Gi-Oh!" genre: ANIMÉ. Five perps, and I had it, as Abejo would say.

23. 10% donation: TITHE. LHF 20

26. Faux __: PAS. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. There was major tongue-biting when my former boss came in one morning extolling the beauty of the faux pas wall finishes he'd seen in a house he'd visited. To correct him, or not to correct him? What a stupid question. LHF 21

28. Four-winged flier: BEE. Learning moment courtesy of Reference.com: "All castes and species of bee have four wings. The pair of wings that is closer to the head is always larger and folds over the rear pair when the bee is at rest. The rear pair is shorter and hooks into the forward pair when unfolded for flight." I'll bet John Lampkin knew that; I didn't.

29. Artistic stand: EASEL. LHF 22

30. Deadpan: DRILY.

33. New Haven student: YALIE. or ELI. LHF 23

34. Smart fellows?: ALECS. LHF 24

37. Yoga-inspired athletic brand: LULULEMON. Never heard of it. "It's all about the intangibles"

40. Closes forcibly: SLAMS. LHF 25

42. __ pool: TIDAL. GENE was too short. STENO didn't work.

45. Irish actor Stephen: REA. He's been in lots of movies, but is probably best known for The Crying Game. LHF 26

46. Fiscal VIP: CFO. Chief Financial Officer.

48. Brought home: NETTED.

52. Song section: VERSE.

54. In the thick of: AMID. LHF 27

55. Downfall: BANE.

57. Small bills: ONES. LHF 28

59. Gumbo ingredient: OKRA. It's slippery-slimy and some (most?) folks don't like it, but it thickens the gumbo. LHF 29

60. Junior or senior: YEAR. LHF 30

62. Had a burger, say: ATE. LHF 31
 
64. Actress Thurman: UMA. Uma Thurman LHF 32





45 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. LeON instead of LYON. That gave me the nonsense word DRILE, but I thought the D was wrong because I was unsure of EdWINA.

There is an urban legend of Taft and a TUB
He wasn't really stuck, and therein is the rub.
Although he was massive
And the tub was passive,
It was built to hold him, yes indeed it was!

When the crowd hollers "OLE! OLE!"
Then the team must WIN! WIN the day!
They can't let fans down,
They must gain the crown,
And to do it they must NOT delay!

{B+, B.}


Anonymous said...

Too easy for a Wednesday. Went quicker than Monday or Tuesday.

Have a nice day.

KS said...

Ole ole
Win win
Deedee
Hmmmmmmm.

inanehiker said...

This was a fun quick run - enjoyable theme with all the fruit made the answers come quickly.

Gotta run....
Thanks CC and Craig!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but had to fix UNe, and somehow I managed to fill pAL pal. I left it blank the first pass because it couldn't be PayPal due to the lower-case clue, then filled without rereading the clue, I guess.

I'm all for yoga attire, except that I don't ever want to see our beloved LEMONade rockin' 'em.

CSO to moi at SENILE.

When I moved from LA to Phoenix, I wrote an article for my old yacht club's newsletter reporting on the regatta scene there. I titled it "Racing Arizona". (Yes, there is sailboat racing in Arizona. The Arizona Yacht Club is a component of the Southern California Yacht Racing Association).

I have a love-hate relationship with A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Every time I watch it I remember that it is too violent for my taste.

We had 22 power pole fires yesterday. Seems that the 24 days without rain combined with the misty drizzle we were getting made the dust from the sea breeze a conductive paste. Apparently it happens every time similar conditions exist, but I don't remember it happening previously. Lots of traffic lights out, causing lots of congestion, but all seems well this morning.

Thanks to Craig for another fine puzzle, and to DO for the illustrated review.

TTP said...

Meet George Jetson
His boy Leroy
Daughter Judy
Jane his wife

I had to have help from perps to remember it was Elroy.

The Jetson's housekeeper Rosie couldn't figure out the Captcha. She was a robot.

Marti used to use the phrase "started with the low hanging fruit" from time to time when describing how she got a toehold on harder puzzles.

Desper-otto, excellent. I also liked your grid, and how you replaced the letters spelling each of the fruits with their images. How did you do that ?

Thanks for the fruit-filled puzzle, Craig.

SwampCat said...

Easy pickings indeed for me today. Thanks, Craig, for the fun. My favorite was Sack opening? For KNAP.

D-O, what can I say? “Y’all’ll” ?? Really? That will stay with me for a good long while! As will the image of you looking into your ear trumpet. I’ll never think of hearing aids the same way again. So much fun.

Owen, thanks for the chuckles. I hope you and feeling better.

Yellowrocks said...

Loved the low hanging fruit and especially CC's graphic representation in the grid. Easy today. I had to change UNE to UNA. I couldn't immediately dredge up PARR. I knew the Jetson boy was some variety of ROY, LEROY to ELROY.
My second graders and I loved Shel Silverstein's wacky poetry in A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends.
It seems more and more people these days prefer "I win big and utterly destroy the competition" to WIN WIN. If WIN WIN can't be, they prefer to destroy themselves and the competition. My mother called that, "rule or ruin."
My friend listens to spurious data that DISTORTs the truth, usually a smear, and swears it's true. I often go home and look up the other side.
I find OKRA slimy and disgusting. IMHO. My sister loves it.
David was a CFO who was downsized at age 57. He has been out of work a year after having worked up to a sizeable salary over the years. Employers do not want to pay so much to someone who might retire soon and who can be replaced by someone cheaper who has 20+ years of experience. They also do not trust someone who would agree to a pay cut, thinking he would be always looking for a higher paying job elsewhere.
Handy can mean near at hand or useful and convenient. Have you ever heard "handy dandy?"
Several hours of administrative paperwork for the square dance club on tap for this morning. I'd rather dance.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Subbing where teacher has no pencil and so, let the write-overs begin: SPA/TUB, DROLL/DRILY, LILY/LULU, CEO/CFO. Yuk!
-Catherine PARR evoked this first line from Kipling’s, If: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” She outlasted Henry and kept hers
-Herman’s Hermits Henry VIII, “Second VERSE same as the first”
-Did anyone else sing this song in high school?
-After two weeks with an ozone generator, two industrial dehumidifiers and new carpeting, we finally have the musty smell out of MIL’s home that we are selling
-Our little town of 25,000 has two good-sized walk-in CLINICS and three drug stores have smaller versions
-The state is RETARRING flood-damaged shoulders of The Lincoln Highway near my golf course and so I waited in a line of 100 vehicles yesterday
-Kids take pride in BURNING each other with “insults”
-My former summer business NETTED me a goodly portion of the $300,000 the company paid me

Anonymous T said...

Ciao All!

I'm back from Italy albeit with a cold courtesy of Venice's cool overnight temps and us not figuring out the EU "air conditioner." I awoke Sunday with that tickle in the back of the throat that you just know sick is coming -- tea be damned. Oh well. We made the best of Monday and, after 2 hours of sleep, caught the water-taxi to the airport at 3:30a Tuesday (9:30p Monday CDT).

I could go on for hours about the trip (we slept one room over from Pope Leon X*'s room at Villa Casagrande in Figline! [not, I was told by the Taxi driver, pronounced FiG-Line] and have tons of pix of things sans us [DW says people only like travel pixs with people in them, so...]. The trip was fantastic, the food over-the top yummy, and the wine - I owe special shout-out to one Stooge that helped me out in the Tuscan region and in Venice; his recommendations were spot on.

Ah, the puzzle. What a nice way to slip back into the LAT [I could only find NYT international in Italy which carried the NYT (obviously) puzzles] even while under the weather.

Thank you Craig for all the LHF that made this puzzle a Peach to solve. The theme is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" brilliant. Thanks for D-O for the Cherry on top. [the Fruit in Italy was sooooo fresh!].

WOs: Movin' ON UP in PARR's squares [needed my SENILE cheaters to see better], YuYu LEMON b/f CLINIC healed that. eGEST.

ESP: EDWINA
Fav: FUDGES - seems everyone does that with budget numbers [I really don't want to look at my Amex bill]
KNAP was a close runner-up.

{A, B} //and good ones all the while. I did lurk when DW had to work.

FLN - HBD Jayce [pronounced in my head as Jayce rhyming with race]

D-O - A sick BURN is followed by your posse sayin' 'Oh, snap' while they await your comeback. See: insult contests / your mamma jokes.

Play later - more NyQuil for now.

Cheers, -T
*Lucina - you'd be so proud of my Catholic upbringing... Even DW was impressed how quickly I could suss roman numerals on plaques; it all started with the XII Stations in my ute. :-)

desper-otto said...

TTP, the credit for the fruit in the grid goes to C.C. (and maybe Husker). I asked C.C. if she could color the theme answers to match the fruit. That didn't work very well -- the yellow ones were unreadable. A short while later C.C. emailed a grid with the fruit images. Voila! Problem solved.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I loved this puzzle not only because it had down rather than the usual across themers and reveal, which is a nice change of pace, but the theme was cute and the reveal a solver's delight, literally. In addition, there were some not-so often seen visual gimmicks that struck me, such as the Ole Ole, Win Win, Dee Dee trio and the top row having all T words, the 2nd row having all O words, and the sixth row having all E words. My only unknown was Edwina and my stumbles were easily corrected by perps: ESE/SSE (geography is a weakness), Tibula/Fibula (got my tibia and fibula mixed up), and, most egregious of all, Une instead of Una, even though I knew Perr should be Parr. It wasn't until I rechecked the clue and saw it as El Pais, not Paris, that I saw my error.

As DO mentioned, nice CSO to Tin at Gal Pal. (Jinx, I chuckled at your Pay Pal comment). I liked the crossing of Ingest ~ Ate, and have decided that Rea and Enya are giving Erie some frequency of appearance competition. I have no idea why, but I thought the brand of Yoga clothing was Lulumon. Either way, it's a strange name. Maybe I was thinking of Poke Mon? (Sp?)

Nice work, Owen.

Have a great day.

Big Easy said...

Good morning. After ORANGE & PLUM the LOW HANGING FRUIT was an easy WAG. After LOWHANG was in place by perps for 10D I didn't read the clue and just filled the rest. D-O, your LHF are my gimmes.


EDWINA, ANIME- both unknowns. DRILY- always thought it was spelled DRYLY.
I never knew that a BEE had four wings; didn't want to get that close.

Is this double day? DEEDEE, OLE OLE, WIN WIN. I remember DEEDEE only because she got arrested for drunk driving. Didn't know she was a political pundit.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Fairly easy. Two small wo's: I had agile before UTILE and Leroy before ELROY. Otherwise, FIR.
KNAP - Per Merriam from the L. German or Dutch; circa 1603. In today's usage, Ger. knapp means 'scarce'; L. German knapp means 'hardly'.
FUDGES - A related naval slang, 'gun deck' means "to fabricate or falsify something; in modern usage, meaning especially to falsify documentation in order to avoid doing work or make present conditions seem acceptable without having made a real effort to improve them."

Irish Miss said...

Forgive my lapse in not thanking Craig for a delightful Wednesday solve and DO for the witty and warm write up, and the illustrated grid (thanks, CC). Many thanks to all.

Welcome back, Tony, sorry to hear you're ailing but I'm sure the memories and experiences of your trip will ease your discomfort. When you feel better, please feel free to regale us with details of your travels, particularly any mouth-watering meals you may have ingested. Feel better soon! 💐

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a fine puzzle. Thank you Desper-Otto and C.C., for a fine review.

Welcome back Anonymous-T. Sounds like a nice trip. Did you bump into Hahtoolah while there?

Got through the puzzle in typical Wednesday time. Works for me.

Took a long time to get the theme because I took a long time at 10D. The other long ones I had some wrong letters in for a while. Once I had the theme all the long downs filled in immediately. Ta Da!

Then I had to go back and get all the other blank squares. Had FEEBLE before SENILE worked much better. HAD ELIHU spelled wrong. Had ANIME spelled wrong. Wanted LALALEMON. LULU worked better. Did not know DEEDEE. Perps. Tried BY BUS before BY CAB worked better. EDWINA was unknown. Perps.

43A ELK was easy. I have been a member of Erie Lodge #67 for about 47 years. When I am in Johnsonburg, I always go to the Johnsonburg Elks for their chicken wings. Johnsonburg Elks Lodge has a bowling alley in the basement. I think four lanes. Been a while since I have been down there. I will check next time.

Anyhow, have to run. Lots to do before I head to Erie and Edinboro, PA tomorrow morning. My daughter and I are going. Helping my sister and my nephew with their big party. Kegs and Eggs. I will take my iPad and hope that cruciverb works.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )





Spitzboov said...

Welcome back -T. Waiting for you to regale us with your stories. Lotsa a chicken soup for your cold.

Abejo - A large write-up on Erie, PA is yesterday's WSJ. Page A 3. They want to "Engineer a Revival".

SwampCat said...

For the record, I love OKRA. It’s not at all slimy if it’s cooked down properly.

Yuman said...

Guess I am missing the obvious,what are the additional 32 LHF?

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thank you for the FRUIT basket, Craig Stowe. It was all LOWHANGINGFRUIT for me. I noted OLE OLE, WIN WIN followed by HIHAT. It sounds like a MANTRA. Big cheese as TOPBANANA made me chuckle.

SHEL Silverstein provided my fourth graders with much entertainment.

PARR or Paar? One of these days I'll remember.

ELIHU and YALIE in the same puzzle.

I love the illustrated grid!

Welcome back, Tony! I'm sorry you're sick. Hot tea with LEMON should help. Hurry and get well so you can relate your adventures.

Enjoy a fine day, everyone!

Anonymous T said...

Abejo - No, Hahtoolah was back from Sicily b/f DW and I flew out. That, and we only were so far south as Rome. Though.
[story follows], I did find a cool knife shop in Siena that offered knives from all over Italy. The tattoo'd proprietor told me, while showing a switch-blade with a very nice wooden handle, that "this knife is Sicilian - made for fighting as they are known for.*" It was EU130 'cash only' that I wasn't going to ruin my Global Entry over. I eventually opt'd for the Florentine pen-knife that was "for opening letters/checks from patrons." :-)

Siena was absolutely beautiful. DW said that it's one of the few cities that weren't bombed in WWII City and still retained it's Medieval aesthetic. If you blocked the selfie-sticks from your view, you could really imagine chickens, goats, and whatnot in the steep-streets and alleyways. The food was (did I mention the food?) multi bene.

Cheers, -T
*some have told me that my last name is Sicilian. However, I kept my cool, didn't take offence, and spared him his life. :-)

TTP said...



Welcome back, Dash T. Glad you had a great time.

The worst part of vacation was opening the work email inbox when I got back.

Thanks, D-O, I thought you did it !

CrossEyedDave said...

Fiw...
(I had Leon instead of Lyon)
That, & poor handwriting, E in Easel looked like an R.
Led to Edwina becoming unpronounceable, & 30d deadpan
being the look on my face trying to figure out where I went wrong...

An hour on the Blog did cheer me up though. (Lots of links...)

The LHF reference had me puzzling within a puzzle,
but I think D-otto was referring to the easy clue/answers in the puzzle
as being low hanging fruit.
Note: not all low hanging should be grabbed...

The Arlo link made me go looking for a live version,
(because I always like to see what fingering the musicians are using)
which led to this intro into coming into L.A.
(I will never sit in seat 37C again!)

Ear Horn reminded me of the strange things the Brits did
that caused them to invent Radar in WWII...

But my only personal experience (so far) with Ear Horns was
The Lord Of The Rings Unexpected Party...
(See part 2 @ 2:15, Tinbeni would be proud...)

Part one

PArt 2

Hmm, Beer, Ale, WIne, even Blue Cheese! but alas for Tin, no Scotch...

Tinbeni said...

What a FUN Wednesday puzzle.

Yup! GAL Pal was my fave today.

Looking forward to the "Game Five" tomorrow.

GO RAYS !!!

Cheers!

Jayce said...

I had fun solving this puzzle and admired the fruit stuff. I did a double (get it? haha) take when I filled OLEOLE and then WINWIN directly underneath it. At first I thought that was the gimmick. Then eventually DEEDEE popped up and my double take became a triple take. The one fruit I didn't know was LULULEMON even though I did get the LEMON part.

So, LHF isn't a Large Holed Flute, eh? Like Big Easy I call 'em gimmes.

Tony, you sound so elated! It is clear both of you enjoyed your vacation very much. I second the motion to see some pics. Get well soon. Oh by the way, were the shower stalls where you stayed as tiny as the one Hahtoolah took a photo of? How about the unique doors to go into a bank?

//begin rant//
So, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has been shutting off power to hundreds of thousands of Californians, very probably causing much food to rot in unpowered refrigerators and causing a resumption of snoring by people who need their CPAP machines, not to speak of many other severe "inconveniences" to people, all for the sake of "keeping us safe"? Gosh I'm sick and tired of "keeping you safe" as a catch-all excuse for committing all sorts of dubious deeds. If PG&E really wanted to "mitigate" the root problem of their high-voltage wires sparking disastrous fires, they'd fix the wires, not turn off the juice. If trees are falling on the power lines (due to high winds) then they are too close, so freaking cut the trees away and properly maintain a cleared "right of way" for the power lines. The only ones you are keeping "safe" is your own corpulent corporate self, in your attempts to "mitigate" your own liability.
//end rant//

Have a good day, all, and may all your bowls be peaceful.

Jayce said...

"The maintenance of proper Right of Way (ROW) in Electrical power transmission lines is very important factor in transmission line by considering maintenance and safety factor."

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Rant away, my friend! When I heard that on the news last night I could hardly believe it. I'm sure I would be ranting if I were there. I wonder if Picard will be in that zone.

ThelmaLouise said...

I’m sorry but what is LHF?

desper-otto said...

Jayce, I had to read that twice before I realized your were saying "bowl," not "bowel."

desper-otto said...

ThelmaLouise, it's low-hanging fruit, i.e. obvious, easy-to-get answers, what some might call "gimmes." As TTP mentioned earlier today, Marti, a blogger and cw creator, also used to refer to the easy answers that way.

Yuman said...

Thank you CrossEyedDave, LHF equals easy peasy. My husband, who is 6’6” and I use to go black berry picking at a local farm. The lower branches were always picked over, so the easiest picking was up high. So, for us the HHF was the best.

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday! Thanks for the fun, Craig and D'otto (and C.C for the fruit in the grid).
Some Canadian content today with Quebec , Toronto and LULULEMON (a Canadian athletic wear company started in Vancouver B.C.).

WEES re the LHF. I presume OKRA is a vegetable, not a fruit. We don't see it here, commonly.
I smiled at ELIHU and YALIE, and UTILE vs. SENILE; groans at your Boston BY CAB line, D'o.
INGEST crossing ATE also was cute.
Spa before TUB, UNE before UNA, Paar before PARR held up the central north.
Good observation about the T, E and O lines, IM. (Some constructor should make a TIC, TAC, TOE CW.)

Welcome back AnonT. Feel better soon.
Wishing you all a great day.

Misty said...

Woohoo! Woohoo! Got this delightful puzzle without problems--many thanks, Craig. I had an Emeriti Committee meeting this morning and got up early, thinking I'd just get started on the puzzle before having to get ready--but I finished it! What a treat. Loved the Jeffersons, so "Movin ON UP" was fun. Got the long Kubrick answer right away--yay! ENYA is turning up so regularly these days, I really should try to listen to "Orinoco Flow" one of these days. I even got ELIHU Root, from puzzle experience, even though I have no idea why he got a Nobel prize. Thanks for the helpful write-up, Desper-otto. And C.C. your FRUIT grid was my favorite moment of all.

Have a great day, everybody.

Michael said...

Dear Jayce @ 1258:

PG&E is just showing its politicaL power -- there are NO reported fires (a of 1:10 PM PDT), so they've shut off power for 14,000 customers in Vacaville, and supposedly 800,000 in Northern California, for NO REASON at all. Like Queen Victoria said, "We are NOT amused."

("SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — .... PG&E wildfire safety expert Sumeet Singh says Tuesday night that the company’s decision to cut electricity to customers in 34 Northern and Central California counties is “a last resort” in the face of an unprecedented and sweeping wildfire risk from hot, dry weather and gusty winds."

All they have is a potential risk and the company did not try any earlier resorts; PG&E is already bankrupt because of their prior ineptness. The new CEO's monthly salary is over $200,000 per month.)

Ol' Man Keith said...

ELIHU Root worked consistently as Secretary of State to bring nations together through peace and cooperation. He was our first "foreign policy grandmaster," Misty, and worked to set up the international court in The Hague and also established the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Great Britain.
Prior to WWI, as Secretary of War, he led our "Preparedness" efforts to be sure we were ready to join the allies in the "fight for Democracy."
He would be persona non grata at 1600 PA Ave today.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
One mirror-side diagonal.
The anagram refers to tiny little consorts, or...
"NUTSHELL WIVES"!

Spitzboov said...

ELIHU ROOT got the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating peace to end the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. He also negotiated the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 with Canada (negotiated with Great Britain)
His home was in the next town over from ours. The property is called the ROOT Glen and is worth a visit with its beautiful gardens and woods.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Spitzboov....we must neighbors. Elihu Root was born in Clinton NY a few miles from Utica/Whitesboro where I hail from. Used to x country ski the Root Glen.

Nice Wednesday puzzle. Had to change Pen pal to "gal"

Put "Shem" instead of "Shel" even though I read The Giving Tree may times to my now grown children. Had no idea what Lululemon was so actually DNF.

So what's the answer to the age old question "who's buried in Grant's tomb?"

Misty said...

Thanks for the update on ELIHU Root, Ol'Man Keith and Spitzboov.

SwampCat said...

The Giving Tree has always been controversial. It tells of a tree who gives to a boy....apples, shade, etc. ...... until the tree is reduced to a stump because of the boy’s Taking. An allegory of victim mentality...giving til you are nothing?? Or simply a warning of a selfish boy who takes and takes?? Only Shel knows what he meant!

I never liked it. But never thought much about it.

Now the New York Times has a column ( diatribe?). about this book. The column is interesting, negative, but the comments are better. People absolutely hate this book! Or absolutely love it!! Who knew?

But that’s what literature is supposed to be about!

Jayce said...

desper-otto, May you have peaceful bowels.

Alice said...

Today's puzzle was easy and lots of fun. FIR, but with luck since I allowed the perps to fill 30 down, DRILY. Like B-E, I thought the correct spelling was DRYLY, so I tried very hard to make 'droll' fit there.

Loved the theme and the visual of the grid with actual fruit.

Re: P,G & E's shut-off - having experienced mandatory evacuation last year, I'm okay with temporary measures to avoid another major wild fire. Hopefully they will eventually bury the electrical wires below ground at some point.

The DODGERS are playing the final game of their NL play-off series tonight. My fingers are tightly crossed!

SwampCat said...

Alice, I wanted DROLL at first too. And when DRILY appeared as the only answer, I thought it was misspelled. Ah well.

SwampCat said...

Owen, I’m trying to get the image of Taft in a tub out of my mind!! Hehehehe

jfromvt said...

Fun puzzle, but a tad easy for Wednesday. This from someone not necessarily sold on the concept of tougher puzzles as the week progresses. Wish they were tougher early in the week.

Wilbur Charles said...

I was almost on the way to Boston but we cancelled at the last minute.

Is there a comprehensive list of LHF? Is there such a thing as xwords-101? An actual course in xword solving?

When I water walk I try to engage fellow waders (Irene and Cindy-forget Steve,DW and Phil) in xwords talk. Apparently, the most boring topic in the world. Phil does his walking with waterproofed cellphone in hand.

As noted, this XW would be a starter extraordinaire. We actually had a difficult Wednesday recently.

Welcome home Tony. Did you see my note on the musically monikered TB Ray's pitcher, Oliver Drake?

As Tin noted the Rays have a chance to emulate the Nats in another colossal upset. My choice of Atlanta to go to WS went South. I didn't know this was a rite of October for the Braves.

One of the "Walkers" is from Milwaukee* and I informed him that HE stole my Boston Braves prior to Atlanta stealing his. Also, there are still "Boston**" Braves fans out there.

LULU LEMON was a new one. Great write-up today and I liked Owen's l'icks.

WC

*Milwaukeean?

**BiCARBinate of soda would be pronounced in Beantown as By-Cahhhb-In-Ate. If it was just "soda", aka pop, it would be TONIC. Colas, root beer etc are neither, they're referred to by the name eg Coke.